


The Backfire Effect

by Tezca



Category: Adam Ruins Everything (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Misunderstanding, Near Death Experiences, alternative universe, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 13:52:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18316544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tezca/pseuds/Tezca
Summary: Sometimes a fun game can mess up shit in an unintended way.





	1. Chapter 1

Sometimes, for all the intelligence her brother had, he can be a ditz. A know-it-all ditz with gelled-up hair. Rhea sighed in mild annoyance. He still had a little ways to go in knowing how to socialize with others. Especially around humans. Especially around a specific human that he had been dating for the past two or three years. Actually no, it was definitely three years.

A part of her still had to wonder how that came to be a thing. One, Adam managed to get into a long-term relationship. Two, there was someone on land, someone in this city, that actually wanted to be with him. Someone that was willing to put up with him and his love of ruining things. Probably helped that they were friends first. And, to be fair, he had gotten better by the time they started dating.

She chuckled to herself. Life was sure funny that way. She remembered how dumbfounded she was when Adam first told her. She couldn’t think of a proper response for several seconds. It had also brought on several pertinent questions in her mind. Mainly, how the hell is this going to work out?

Mermaids aren’t exactly immortal, but they can live a few centuries longer than humans. Around 500, give or take. She and Adam were born in the late 19th century.

Plus, how much longer will his girlfriend be able to handle all his ruining and weird quirks? The man still thinks a robot piggy bank is an acceptable way for humans to save up money.

In all seriousness, Emily was the right one for Adam. She understood him, she loved him for who he was. Well, there was a slight problem of her still thinking he was born on Long Island as opposed to somewhere deep in the Atlantic Ocean. But, she had no doubt she would accept him, mermaid and all.

She knew Emily well enough; the two were best friends. There will definitely be zero fucks given. She sadly couldn’t say the same vice-versa. Not for the few remaining mermaid clans out there. She and her brother were rare among their kinds. They saw no problem with the majority of humans; they all can’t be automatically malicious just cause of a minority that was gone from this world by now.

The cool ocean breeze hit her face, instantly bringing relief in the hot summer day. Rhea was at a secluded area of Malibu Beach - or at the least, it was less populated. The time of day helped too; she was blessedly alone for the time being. It was the perfect timespan to slip under the waters unnoticed with the absence of tourists and locals. It would be a different story in about two hours.

There was another reason she was here this early, though. Unfortunately, Adam had to go and screw up things. Apparently, he had tried to tell Emily about ‘the secret’ recently. At least, from what she gathered by the text message Adam had sent her at around 1am the day before. She had a good feeling he had tried to make it a lecture rather than gently easing her in.

“Hey, Rhea!” Emily called out happily with a big smile.

Rhea turned around just in time to for her to throw her arms around her in a friendly hug. She returned the hug. It was very nice to see her back from an overnight field trip. They gave each other a friendly embrace before they broke apart.

How the hell was she going to ease into the Adam thing? She felt a surge of anxiety shoot up her back. It went unnoticed by Emily, but she certainly felt herself freeze up for a moment. She wasn’t sure of a way to do it without it coming off as awkward.

It would definitely top feeling awkward that she sprung the idea of going to the beach last minute. Well, truthfully, it wasn’t like it was literally the last minute. She has gotten back yesterday. However, she still felt bad, given that this was pretty early in the morning. Thankfully, Emily jumped at the idea.

“You will not believe how happy I am that it’s the weekend. Finally! I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love being a teacher. But what the hell was I thinking when I agreed to help supervise a bunch of 4th graders?”

Rhea laughed casually with a smile, “Acting like immature brats, I take it?”  
Emily nodded as she put her beach bag down, “Oh yeah. More than usual, it seemed. I heard enough dick jokes to earn me another million dollars,” Emily finished with a roll of her eyes.

“And this is the next generation of kids we expect to run the world someday,” Rhea quipped dryly with another light chuckle.

Rhea crossed her arms as she watched Emily take out her beach towel. She had on the usual beach attire, a black one-piece underneath a white fleece cover-up. Unlike Emily, all Rhea had on was a t-shirt and jeans. She was bound to notice something may be up. Her friend wasn’t dumb.

A moment of silence passed as Emily laid out the beach towel. She sat down. It was still sorta chilly, so she opted to leave the coverup on. No real noticeable sound filled the air except for the seagulls calling in the distance and the waves behind her.

Emily finally took notice of the odd thing out. She looked confused and gestured with a finger towards her.

“You didn’t dress up for the beach?” Emily asked, simply curious.

She didn’t really give a shit either way, and Rhea knew that.

Still, given the circumstances, she was already feeling the anxiety flow internally. It was like her body had decided to create a storm. Damn it. It wouldn’t be a lie to say she was proud of the fact she was able to pass off as a native human socially. The awkward levels were, annoyingly, approaching that of her brother’s. No one can really blame her though.

See, Emily and Adam have a thing between them. A game they do on and off called “Actually…” where they challenged each other on debunking misconceptions the other pretended to believe in. It was something for them to exercise their knowledge and research skills. And Rhea was totally fine with that, as long as they don’t drag her into it.

Couple that with the fact that humans born after 1905 wouldn’t be able to find any evidence of mermaids existing. That was the year a group of the more experienced magic users cast a spell on Earth. A spell that erased all humankind’s concrete knowledge on mermaids, relegating the truth to just mere myth and lore. Mermaid hunting was a thing from the late 1500s to the early 1900s. It wasn’t really common, but it was enough to have reduced their numbers. Enough for it to be very rare now for sailors to spot one. Most of them had migrated down to the depths of the ocean to escape the slaughter.

The practice was very horrible, yes, but she and Adam didn’t agree with the idea of the spell. How else would humans learn from their mistakes? How else would they learn to coexist if they didn’t know mermaids existed in the first place? They tried to voice their opinion then, but of course, they were considered the equivalent of minors in the eyes in their culture.

That was annoying, really.

And it was those two factors that led them all to this situation. Rhea knew she had to fix this little misunderstanding. She wanted to, even. It was clear to see what, in general, had happened. Adam tried to tell Emily that he was a mermaid, and Emily must’ve thought he was doing that debunking challenge thing.

Time to rip off the bandaid.

“Uhh, yeah, listen. I’m gonna be honest,” Rhea began as she sat next to Emily.

She was as serious as she can be while still being casual. She put her hands together and took another breath.

“I’m going to ask what may sound like really...weird questions.”

Emily paused as she faced Rhea, confused but curious enough. She got the feeling now there was more to this beach get together then she thought. But Rhea was her best friend, a confidant, and vice versa. She can definitely ask anything she wanted.

“Oh, uhh, sure. Shoot.”

“Did you and Adam do that ruining thing you guys...do?”

Emily's face had brightened up a bit. It was funny; years ago she wouldn’t dream of actively ruining something for fun. However, ever since she met Adam, she had warmed up to the idea. Especially since Adam also learned to not be such a smug know-it-all about it by now. It also helped that he learned that it wasn’t the greatest way to gain friends.

“Yeah, we did! I know you’re not as interested in it as we are, but I have to say it was one of the more...intense ones we had. It was still fun, but I haven’t felt that much adrenaline and energy since I told him about the hymen, to be honest. One of those things I knew I had it in the bag.”

“I remember you telling me about the hymen thing,” Rhea commented, she had her arms around her legs.

“Yeah, he was grateful to have learned the truth there,” Emily lightly chuckled.

“What was the topic this time?”

“Mythology, I think,” Emily replied, she tried to remember the specifics.

She looked at the sand in front of her absentmindedly in thought. She turned to face Rhea to give a more confident nod. It all became clear in her mind now.

“Yeah, I remember. It was over mermaids, specifically. I did enjoy the topic, it was a great choice. But...it was one of those topics where both of us knew who’ll come out on top,” Emily gestured to herself in a good natured boast of victory, “Me.”

“He couldn’t find any evidence I take it?” Rhea looked ahead at the ocean. She questioned matter of factly.

‘Course, she would know the why behind that.

“Yeah. I told him we’ll have up to an hour to find articles that back up our claims,” Emily paused for a second as she aimlessly looked at a few white clouds in the distance.

Emily’s voice wasn’t quite as peppy as before. A mildly awkward silence started to develop before she quietly confessed.

“I do admit it was odd that he was adamant on his opinion that mermaids exist more than usual. He wouldn’t back down and admit he was wrong in the face of evidence. Even when I pointed out that the scant amount of stuff he found was flimsy at best. It’s nothing against your brother, I still love him.”

Emily laid down on her back while Rhea kept her gaze forward. It appeared to Emily as if she were in deep thought. She didn’t pay too much heed, however. There was relaxing to be had.

“I would’ve gladly stood corrected if they were real and more than just fiction,” She admitted causally, “Who doesn’t enjoy lore in general?”

“What exactly happened?”

Now that was out of the blue, Emily blinked. Rhea wasn’t this interested before. Well, except maybe that one time when they were debating the justice system. She even jumped in and corrected Adam at one point. That was a sight to behold.

Other than that, she’d rather do anything else then partake in their idea of a hobby. Actually, to be fair to Emily, she was only interested in doing it with just Adam. The latter would’ve gladly done it with anyone still, had he not know better by now.

Rhea quickly corrected herself, “You can just give me a summary, I don’t want it line by line.”

Emily softly chuckled, “Alright...well, there’s not too much. Adam started it off with a claim that mermaids exist. He went on about how sometimes there are things about the world we don’t know about. That some things are more than just myth. I joked if this was gonna be a serious debate, he laughed, but said to go with it. I was completely fine with that, at least it wasn’t awful politics,” Emily explained.

Rhea could agree with that. Emily continued.

“Besides, it was fun! I got more passionate than I thought I would. I think both of us did. Adam probably fueled that, to be honest. He was more steadfast than I thought with the implication that mermaids are real. So, I got more steadfast in the objective truth.”

“I see.”

“I did say at one point that I would gladly eat my words if they did exist,” Emily said as she sat up, “It would be interesting if some mythological beings existed. I mean, I’m not gonna be some asshole about it if say vampires or whatever did. It’ll be like denying the moon landing happened in that case.”

Rhea laughed which faded into an awkward silence. This was a shitty position she found herself in. Both of them had acted like stubborn idiots from what she knew. Ugh, she wished she was there when Adam decided to let Emily in on the grand secret. How was she gonna break this gently?

“Vampires definitely don’t exist. Doesn’t mean others don’t,” Rhea knowingly said, almost cryptically.

Now that was odd coming from Rhea. She blinked as she watched the taller woman stand up. Rhea motioned for her to follow along.

“I want to show you something,” Rhea plainly said as Emily stood up.

Emily felt more perplexed. She was beginning to get a feeling this had some connection to what she just shared. Was Rhea trying to imply mermaids did exist? She knew Rhea wasn’t the type to string her along on some elaborate trollish bullshit, especially to a close friend. She was more honest than the rest of this city. And she knew Rhea could trust her with a secret like that. She knew she could trust herself even.

Plus, she imagined it would be cool to know something everyone else didn’t. Rhea, meanwhile, looked around and noticed some other people were already on the beach. She let out an annoyed breath.

“Fuck,” Rhea quietly exclaimed before she faced Emily, “We have to go somewhere where it just me and you. Come on.”

Emily was very confused now, her mind felt like it was breaking down trying to figure out what was happening. The only logical conclusion was not fitting the research she did the other day. If indeed it was all true, then she didn’t want to think how she may have come off. Closed-minded is something she wasn’t. She wanted to get to the bottom of this.

A brief moment of pause passed. Like everything just stopped for a second before one made their next move. She quickly grabbed her phone before she followed Rhea. Rhea walked towards the water then took a right, Emily sprinted to catch up.

“Rhea wait, hold on. Are you trying to tell me Adam was right all along?! Despite there being no strong evidence he can find?”

Emily looked at Rhea as they walked alongside the water. The fact the expression on her face was stone-cold serious about this increased the feeling she monumentally screwed up. It wasn’t a good feeling to be had. Her stomach dropped several floors.

Rhea stopped in front of Emily. She didn’t want to sugarcoat anything about this whole mess. Plus, there was the damn renewed sense of resentment towards the spell cast upon humankind that washed over her. That didn’t help matters either.

“Yes. Here...” Rhea got out her phone. She opened it to the text messages Adam had sent her, “These are what he sent me before he went into the ocean two nights ago.”

The world seemed to slow down to a halt as she browsed through. Her heart sank as she read the messages. Adam had mentioned basically what she told Rhea, just from his perspective. She can feel the disappointment he had radiating off the screen. Her gut crushed harder with guilt. She knew Adam wasn’t the type to exaggerate anything as big as this.

And she just went and fucked everything up. All because she thought they were doing another rousing edition of the knowledge game they like to do.

“Holy shit, so wait he was-he was actually right?! And he didn’t go to San Francisco for a comedy show event?”

Emily looked up at Rhea, her eyes full of crushing guilt. She felt so horrible right now. Adam was trying to tell her something that was a part of him. Something he felt like he trusted Emily enough to tell her. And she just went and acted so single-mindedly by way of jumping to the notion that it was another debate session. Ugh, fuck this

If there was a Rotten Girlfriend of the Year Award, she’ll be the top contender.

The silence that followed was all the answer she needed.

She groaned audibly. She felt like the biggest asshole in the world right now. She didn’t want to look Rhea in the eyes.

“You probably hate me right now,” Emily replied as she handed back the phone.

She looked aimlessly at the sand and the cliffside on her right. She was feeling pretty sick and disgusted with herself right now.

She didn’t want to lose her friendship with Rhea over something she unintentionally did. How in the nine levels of hell did it come to this? A reality where she, by sheer accident, went against her nature. She had to fix this.

Rhea immediately reassured her, “No, no, I don’t hate you, Emily. Am I mad at how you both handled it? Yes, but I don’t hate you. I can’t blame you for what society had ingrained into your brain all your life. At least with this mermaid shit. If it wasn’t for a bunch of fucking morons way before you were born, you would’ve found evidence about our kind.”

That didn’t sound too good, from how resentful the last part sounded.

She could ask more about that later. Right now, there were more pertinent things on her mind. Like fixing up this whole shitty mess. Wait, this can be fixed, right? Yeah, yeah, it can be fixed. She had to fix this. She was determined to fix this. She didn’t want to pass through this world without him, hand-in-hand. She was determined to find Adam, adrenaline only dialing it straight to eleven. She had to find him, no matter what.

Without another thought, she abruptly turned and ran into the water. Rhea was absentmindedly looking into the distance when she caught the sudden movement. She had wanted to give some time for Emily to process all of this. All this newfound reality about the world alone would be enough to overwhelm someone.

She just didn’t account for the possibility Emily might act impulsively. Alarm bells went off inside her head as she spotted her go right into the water.

Shit.

“Emily!” Rhea cried out alarmed as she took off after her.


	2. Chapter 2

Meanwhile, Emily was running as fast as she could, calling out to Adam every so often. Wait, do mermaids have better hearing than humans? She just decided to bank on it and just hope he was somewhere relatively near. The waves lapped up against her skin as she felt the water rise up to her stomach.

“Adam! Adam!” Emily yelled out, her voice shaky.

She wanted so much to apologize. She wanted Adam to know that she loved him no matter who or what he is. She glance around, hopeful for any sighting of him. Sadly, there was nothing but the open ocean ahead of her. She felt her heart pound against the inside of her chest.

She was real close to abandoning all common sense and diving forward, getting herself out further, but that’d just exacerbate the problem. Luckily, for all involved, her logical side kicked her behind at the right moment. Instead, she backed up a few steps to get a better footing against the slow moving water. Yeah, it wouldn’t be sensible to make a rash decision. She was human, after all, and, according to lore at least, mermaids were more adapted for the ocean. It would be nigh impossible for them to drown.

“Oh boy...” Emily breathed out, she realized this won’t exactly be an easy search.

Well, not without Rhea. She wouldn’t even know where to start, otherwise. Adam could be anywhere in the Pacific Ocean. Most likely moping, if her notion was correct. That was really the only guess she was confident about regarding her long-time boyfriend.

“This is gonna be harder,” Emily realized out loud just as Rhea caught up to her.

She was filled with great relief that Emily didn’t go any further. Not that she doubted anything, but one can make dumb, irrational decisions under stress. And this situation was nothing but stressful. Add in the whole ‘humans can’t breath underwater’ thing and the situation would’ve escalated very quickly.

“It’ll be doable. He’ll be having himself a pity party somewhere nearby.”

“That, I figured,” Emily casually agreed.

Luckily for both of them, there was a way for humans to breath underwater. Unfortunately, said way was going to be awkward in a sense. It wasn’t considered intimate or anything, although it can be. It just involved mermaid blood.

Emily glanced down at her phone. It was some miracle she hadn’t gotten it too wet.

“I’m guessing I can’t just text or call Adam?” Emily faced Rhea.

There was a note of resignation in her voice. A part Emily did wistfully hope that she’ll be able to. The part that desperately wanted to try anything to get in contact with Adam, even if the method was illogical.

Rhea gently shook her head apologetically.

“We can communicate telepathically over long distances. Don’t really have a need for anything like a phone. Which, speaking of...um, you want me to teleport your stuff back to your house?”

“Wait, you can do that?” Emily replied, with awe in her voice. “That’ll be great! Thanks,”

The sense of awe increased a little when she watched Rhea just casually snap her fingers. A burst of dark red energy later, her phone had vanished into thin air. Now that was pretty damn amazing. Emily looked over her shoulder in the direction of where she left her other beach-related things. All she saw was sand.

Emily turned back around with a mild giddy grin on her face.“That was really cool. Do all mermaids have magic?”

“Yeah. Adam is better at it than I am,” Rhea confessed nonchalantly, “I freely admit I rather do most of my shit with my own two hands. Put elbow grease into it. I feel more accomplished that way.”

Emily nodded in understanding. And here she was thinking if she had magic, that would eliminate all the minor day-to-day inconveniences. Or, if she was feeling particularly lazy, she could zap some snacks and drink instantly while in bed.

“So, that means it actually took you five years to restore that vintage car of yours and that wasn’t some-” Emily hoped she didn’t sound accusatory, she just wanted to be clarified.

Rhea felt a fleeting surge of pride over that as she nodded with a smile.

“Yep. Adam’s the same way too. He said if humans don’t need to use magic, then we can get by without them too.”

After a quick look around to assess the situation - she took a few seconds to glance at the houses on top of the cliff - she turned back to Emily with a plan in mind.

“How we going to do this, Rhea? I really want to fix this, but I obviously can’t breath underwater.”

Emily felt somewhat dejected at the prospect of fixing this fairly soon.

“There is a way.”  
______________________

Emily now found herself inside an air bubble of sorts, contained in a sphere of red magic. Her mind was still a tad stuck on the fact that apparently Rhea’s kind are - her words - practically giants compared to humans. Somewhere between 12 or 13 and 14 feet on average as opposed to those on land. It was definitely surreal to see in person.

And Rhea had the most beautiful mermaid tail she’ve seen thus far. Long and slender, covered in scales and colored a deep rich red. Even in the dissipated sunlight below the surface, it glistened like little sparkling diamonds. If her tail looked this amazing, she could only imagine how amazingly pretty Adam’s did.

Unsurprisingly, Rhea had on a matching halter top. She chastised herself briefly for assuming her friend might wear a seashell bra, like in The Little Mermaid or something. Now that she thought on it, that didn’t really seem like Rhea, anyways. Nor something she imagined wearing, herself, if she were a mermaid.

This had to be one of the more surreal moments she has experienced in her life. And it was also very cool to get a sight of the underwater life from this vantage point. Fish and seaweed, flowing along with the rhythm of the currents. It was pretty damn cool, she’d have to say.

Right now, they were currently a little ways out from the beach. Her bubble was on top of a little rocky ledge in an underwater wall of rock. Rhea was in the process of finding the right enough piece of seaweed. Five minutes passed before she came swimming back up.

She materialized a bowl right outside Emily’s bubble. She began to break up the seaweed into little bitty pieces as she spoke frankly.

“I’m gonna be straight up with you, this is probably gonna be gross,” Rhea started.

Emily watched for a second before she replied.

“Well, if it helps me to breath down here. I can handle it.”

She felt confident enough about that, but there was a part of her that was unsure. Mainly because she didn’t know what to expect. What is going to be gross about this? She was confused as she watched Rhea grabbed what appeared to be a pointy little stick from a reef. The pieces fell together to form her answer when Rhea used it to prick her finger.

Rhea proceeded to let a few drops of blood into the small bowl before she gave it a magical kick. She stirred the soup like concoction with the same reef stick. Emily suddenly felt a little unsure about her answer now. A spike of apprehensiveness shot through her.

“Ok that’s...probably gonna taste gross, too.”

Rhea admitted, “Probably will. But you won’t need that bubble again for a while if I remember correctly.”

She looked at her enclosed container before she conceded the point. She wasn’t argumentative at all, it’s not like she faints at the mere sight of blood. It just all depended on the situation. Minor cuts and scrapes, yeah, she wasn’t a wimp about it. This, though, had her stomach on the verge complaining about it. If it meant feeling less of a burden ‘cause she couldn’t breath underwater, though, then so be it.

She can handle getting her hands down and dirty so to speak. Just part of life. Doesn’t mean she was looking forward to it, in any case. She was glad Rhea was honest about it; she wouldn’t be her best friend if she wasn’t.

“I can handle it,” Emily sincerely said.

“Good.” Rhea said as she finished up.

She moved the bowl inside the bubble and held it in front of Emily. There was a slight hesitation before the latter started to drink it. A few seconds later and Rhea got rid of the air bubble. Water rushed in and Emily was surprised with how at ease she was able to breath now. She didn’t feel the instinctive need to hold in her breath.

Water surrounded her and she was able to move around with ease. She laughed giddedly, as she couldn’t believe it for a hot minute. She can breathe underwater! It worked!

Rhea shared the success with her. That was the first time she had done something like that to be honest. A part of her deep down in the recess of her mind wondered if she was doing it right. She was glad it worked. This made things easier for her and Emily.

Emily wanted to try swimming around, suspended in nothing by water. It would be like flying, in a way. Except she wouldn’t have to worry about free falling to her death. The caveat is she would have to worry about sharks and whatnot.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t time. They had to continue onwards to finding Adam. So Rhea cradled Emily in one arm and off they went. The former felt her senses flare up. The magical trail left behind Adam was still here. All she had to do was swim up north and somewhere, they’ll find a moping know-it-all.

“I just realized something,” Emily casually said after several minutes passed.

Rhea glanced down at her for a second. Emily had a ponderous expression written over her face. Everything she knew about Adam clicked into place and everything became that much more clearer.

“If Adam a merman then...that explains a hell of a lot.”

Rhea laughed, “Yeah. He may have a lot of knowledge about humans and their ways, but he’s still shit at talking to one. We wouldn’t be in this mess if he wasn’t.”

Emily chuckled then sighed softly, “I hear ya.”

“I’ve lived among your kind a few decades longer than he has,” Rhea explained before she suddenly felt a jolt of memory.

The lifespan thing.

“Ugh, shit,” Rhea said out loud abruptly. She let out an embarrassed breath, “I have to explain something important to you, Em.”

“What?” Emily looked up at her with apt attention.

“We can live significantly longer than humans. A mermaid or merman can be around for 5 centuries. Adam and I have already lived a little over a hundred years.”

Emily once again felt dumbstruck, “Whoa, holy crow...”

And then she felt a burst of anxiety at what this could mean for her and Adam’s relationship.

“Wait hold on. That means I’m gonna die way before Adam!”

A part of her was beginning to wonder if they could still make this work. Another called her an idiot for even wondering it cause course they could. They’ll have to discuss it, but she willing to make the best of it. She didn’t want to break up with Adam just cause of something trivial like a large age gap. Obviously that depends, of course, but at her age - early to mid 30s - and his - 100 plus apparently -, the age gap shouldn’t be a deal breaker.

“It’ll be alright, Emily. There is a way around that if you both want to go that route. Adam would have to put a protection sigil on your back. I think it’s something you both should discuss beforehand, though.”

“Why?”

“Well, you’ll be under his protection via a telepathic link. Your lifespan would get elongated enough to match ours. You’ll be able to breath underwater for good. The caveat is that, um, say you two decided to break up a few years down the road. Depending on if it was amicable or not, you might end up going the rest of your new longer lifespan watching your loved one pass away much quicker,” Rhea agreed.

It was definitely food for thought.

“I mean, it doesn’t sound like that big of a deal in comparison to immortality,” Emily pointed out, she can see where Rhea was coming from.

“You’re right, it’s not, but 500 years is enough to warrant a talk or two. Easier to go through all those years with someone you love. And add in the fact that you’ll age slower, it would make any hypothetical future relationships harder.”


	3. Chapter 3

The two stopped for the time being. Emily reckoned they have been swimming through the water for an hour and a half by now. Below her feet, she could see the water plunge into pitch black darkness quickly. At this point, she had to struggle a bit to see Rhea. They haven’t gotten past the point of no sunlight, but they were pretty deep.

It just made the surroundings more ominous, like suddenly a shark was going to show up. Even with the idea in her head, he felt safe with Rhea beside her. Emily did her best to help, looking around on the off chance Adam hadn’t dived deep down. Or at least closer to the point of no sunlight.

“Adam! Adam, get your know-it-all, ruining ass up here!” Rhea called out firmly, voice ringing out in the quieter waters. Her choice of words made Emily laugh under her breath.

There was nothing in response but the sound of ocean. Rhea looked down.eah, she had been in the deeper parts of the ocean before. Thing is, she has gotten spoiled enough living on land to hesitate a little at the idea of going down there. Plus, she knew that’s where other members of her kind were most likely to be found.

Yes, logically there were others like her and Adam that wanted to be among humans. It’s just that there were also a lot of others that bore a resentment towards humankind for what had happened. She didn’t want them to get caught. Just go down there, find Adam, fix this mess, and head back to Malibu Beach.

Get back to their lives as soon as possible.

“Fuck, it’s been a long time since I gone into the deep ocean. It’s a little nerve-wracking,” Rhea confessed out loud, the irony of that statement wasn’t lost on her.

Emily swam back up to her before looking down.

“Oh boy, that’s deep.”

“Adam, you’re an idiot,” Rhea groaned with a roll of her eyes.

“So, you think he’s down there?” Emily asked, apprehensively.

“My senses are pointing to yes.”

Emily took in a deep breath then exhaled to calm her nerves. There was determination in her voice.

“Well then, let’s go down there.”

“Before we go down there, word of caution. There could be one or two other merfolks that may be hostile. Highly doubt it in this area, though. Me, Adam, and a few others aren’t exactly the most popular ‘cause of our stance against the whole humankind not knowing about us thing.”

Emily nodded and paused. She was curious to know more about that. Just what happened that caused some of the mermaids out there to wipe out all evidence of them existing? If her knowledge of some of the horrible shit humankind have done over the years anything to go by, then the answer wouldn’t be anything good.

“I have a feeling there’s more behind that.”

“There is. I’ll explain later,” Rhea said as she gently brought Emily into her arms, “We have to stay together, Emily. It’s going to be dark and it’s going to be a higher risk of getting caught.”

There were fewer amounts so by logic it shouldn’t be too high, but at the same time, she didn’t want to let her guard down. She held Emily with both arms this time as she dived straight down.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to go down too much deeper before Rhea spotted the familiar light blue tail of her brother. He was in a little underwater cave. Rhea initially passed it, but she caught it out of the corner of her eye.

She turned around and swam up inside the entrance of the cave. Adam was surprised to see his sister, enough to let out a startled yelp. He was sitting up against the back wall of the cave. Rhea didn’t allow him enough time to express surprise at seeing the both of them.

“Alright, Adam, we need to talk!” Rhea firmly said as she gave him a stone-cold glare.

How can Rhea be three years younger than him and yet still feel like she’s the older one?

“Wh-what about?” He asked, a little unsure.

“The mess you and Emily have created,” Rhea swam a little closer in, “How the hell did you think telling her about us out of the blue was the best way to do it?!”

Adam got up from the floor and swam up closer to her face. Some dust and water kicked up in the wake of his movements. A myriad of emotions blossomed when he saw a familiar person in her arms. He looked back at Rhea, it was clear she was expecting an answer.

“It was the only way I knew how, Rhea! How else was I supposed to do it?”

“Of course it was,” Rhea dryly quipped, “You could’ve...oh I don’t know...ease her in gently! Instead of ‘oh hey guess what? Mermaids exists, here’s why’! You know as well as I do that nowadays, a human is more apt to look at you funny! Especially if you put it in an argumentative way!”

“I wasn’t trying to be-” Adam defensively said.

This time, Rhea got the feeling he wasn’t trying to be. But it sure as hell came out that way. At least, going from what she know.

By now, Emily had gotten loose out of Rhea’s hold. She was between the siblings, not sure when she should pipe up about this. A little awkward, she just listened to the two go back and forth.

“Well, Emily thought so, she thought you were doing that stupid knowledge game shit you two have! Which, speaking of, if there any a reason to stop that game, this is why!” Rhea angrily shouted as she gestured to make her point.

Rhea took a calming, sharp breath before she continued, “Look, I obviously told Emily about us. Contrary to how it may have seemed, she actually doesn’t give a shit if you’re a mermaid or not. She loves you.”

Adam silently looked at her before he looked down at Emily. She was looking pretty guilty about everything. She swam up so she could be face to face with her boyfriend.

“Yeah. I really thought you were just trying to challenge me. I’m sorry, this is all my fault. I never meant to come off like some….narrow-minded asshole. That definitely isn’t me. I love you no matter what.”

Emily diverted her gaze just off of Adam for a second before she looked at him. She felt anxious to hear what he said.

“Oh Em, it’s my fault….I should’ve realized I wasn’t helping my case much with the lack of evidence behind it,” Adam apologized softly but matter of factly.

He had gently brought her into a warm embrace up against his bare chest. Emily completely relaxed in his strong but gentle hold. Adam gently rubbed her back with his thumb. A sense of relief washed over him over this whole thing. Over them both really. After a few seconds, he pulled Emily off and gently held her hand in front of him.

He really was happy about how all this turned out. He wasn’t sure what to do otherwise, because he didn’t want to break up with Emily. Or stay with her, but live a lie in the process.

“I hope you’re able to forgive me Emily. I probably should’ve just had Rhea do it,” Adam finished with a nervous chuckle.

“I should be asking you that, I was the one that was acting too skeptical. Maybe we should give the challenge thing a rest for a while,” Emily suggested.

Adam could agree with that in this case. The two smiled at each other. An unspoken declaration of forgiveness passed between the two. Adam smile big as he leaned in to give her a kiss on the lips.

“I have to say you look really amazing,” Emily complimented after the kiss was over.

“Really? Thank you,” Adam brighten up with a flattered smile, “I was hoping you’ll still like me in this form, I mean I look different enough than your average person and-”

“You’re still my handsome know-it-all Adam,” Emily lovingly smiled.

She swam over and gave a warm kiss on his cheek. Adam felt his face get blissfully warmer. A cloud of haze brought on by love surround his vision, he momentarily forgot Rhea was in front of them. Emily moved herself back, she kinda wished at the moment it was just Adam and her. She gave another look over, even in the dim light she can tell his tail matched the brilliant blue in his eyes. She wondered if there some way to incorporate this into their fun times. Maybe underwater sex?

Emily opened her mouth with the intent to tell him that she loved him very much. That she’ll always be with him. Instead, she suddenly felt the need to hold her breath. The water around her became heavier and her vision quickly faded to black.

Next thing she knew she woke up and found herself in Adam’s arms. A warm sensation was all over her. For a moment she thought she was in bed, but reality noted otherwise when her vision cleared up. She was in an air filled bubble once again. What just happened? One minute she was in the water and now she was surrounded by air. She was feeling terrified for what it could mean.

She groaned weakly as she blinked her eyes. Right away the first thing she saw was Adam right above her. He looked anguished and horrified. It gave way to tears of joys a second later before Adam bend down to give her a series of kisses on her face.

“I’m so happy you’re ok. Oh god Emily,” Adam cried out softly in between kisses.

Emily asked, feeling alarmed mixed with sudden confusion, “Adam, what happened?!”

“You almost drowned, Em.”

A moment of silence passed as Emily processed this new turn of events. That didn’t sound good at all!

“Wait, what?! But Rhea did that thing that allowed me to breath underwater.” Emily looked over her head and noticed Rhea was just as equally relieved. Rhea had been very scared for Emily while watching Adam magically heal her. She had been maintaining the magic air bubble.

“Oh my god, Emily I’m so sorry, I don’t know what the hell happened?! Are you ok? That was supposed to last a good 24 hours!”

“Well, I do!” Adam said with understandable fury as he faced Rhea.

There was a heavy, dead silence for the next few seconds between the two siblings. Rhea froze up in place. She knew she fucked up. His eyes pierced right through her to the core. Any anger she had earlier is completely gone now. Replaced with great disappointment in herself. She knew her brother had every right to be angry.

She felt gut crushingly sick, she hated the fact that she put her best friend in any sort of danger. Especially where she almost died.

“This is something you need to be absolutely exact with all the elements of a spell! You absolutely can’t afford to make a mistake! Especially when used on a human! They can’t handle being this far down underwater!”

She strangely felt like she was being scolded by their dad. Adam inherited that ‘you done legitimately fucked up’ voice. On the other hand, Adam would rightfully rip her apart over this. He understood the consequences better than their parents did.

She should give them credit when it’s due, they did understand there weren’t bad humans out there. They just didn’t have the amount of knowledge about them as she and Adam did. If they were here, there would be a good chance they’d be confused why Adam was so angry.

“I know that Adam! That’s the first thing I did-“

“Knowing that ain’t enough Rhea and you know it!” Adam yelled as he cut her off, “What kind of seaweed did you use? I can guarantee you probably went and grabbed a random one nearby. Was that it?”

“Yes,” Rhea dejectedly admitted, she can see the disappointment in his eyes, “I grabbed some green one.”

A beat of silence the came a disapproved sigh.

“Rhea….you can’t just fucking use any random seaweed! You have to use a specific kind from the colder areas of the world! Otherwise the duration a human can breath underwater is drastically lower! God damn it, this is something you should know already! You were born before 1905! How could you forget something like this?!”

“I-I don’t know!” Rhea stammered out, “I thought I knew what I was doing! I’m really, really sorry Adam.”

Adam proceeded to take over control of the air bubble. The water around them seemed to have heated up.

“This is something you should never forget! Even when living among humanity for as long as we both have! And if you weren’t sure, then you should’ve just had Emily wait at the beach!”

“But she still been would’ve unconvinced about everything, otherwise! Plus she probably would’ve thought I drowned or-“

“That’s no excuse and you know it! I rather have her waiting at the beach still skeptical about shit than witness a near-death experience!”

Rhea fell silent, he was right. She should’ve thought things more carefully. Like whether or not she was sure about the spell. Thing was, at the time she went on with it with surefire confidence. Fuck. What a hard way this was to find out

“I have to put the protection spell on her. We could go back up while I have her in an air bubble but we can’t do that. Not when there’s a village ten miles west of us! You were extremely lucky you both didn’t get caught!”

There was an uncomfortable silence. With what just happened, yeah, it was a miracle they hadn’t. Things would’ve went differently in a horrible way if otherwise. In hindsight, it was a too risky a move to bring Emily this far out. She should’ve just told her but had her wait at the beach.

“Go get something sharp for me to use, quickly!”

“Yes, Adam,” Rhea said quickly as she darted out of the cave.

He watched Rhea leave before he let out a slow but calming breath. Yeah he and sister were more used to human culture now, but there wasn’t any excuse to not keep up with important information regarding any nearby mermaid settlement. As well as info regarding the state of opinions about humans.


	4. Chapter 4

Adam looked back down at Emily after a few seconds gone by. He finally let the warm magical energy fade away. He put a gentle finger under her chin.

“You’re ok? Sorry you had to hear me get mad.”

Emily nodded as best she could, “Yeah I think so. It’s alright, actually you’re….kinda hot when you’re mad,” She cheekily admitted with a smile.

Adam softly laughed as he felt his cheeks heat up a bit, “I don’t like getting mad at Rhea...but this was a life or death mistake. Feels weird too, usually it’s her getting mad at me.”

Emily chuckled at that. That was usually the case, “She was mad at both of us, earlier. And everyone has their buttons they don’t want pushed, even people like you, so it’s ok. And sounded like it was legit in this case.”

“Oh it is. It used to be that young mermaids were taught about spells regarding humans in school,” He explained then sighed a bitter sadness, “Unfortunately, it's not anymore.”

“Oh, Rhea had mentioned earlier something about prejudices against humans.”

“That, and the isolationist attitude has gotten worse. It used to be that my kind were happy to mingle and form relationships with humans. But then we started getting hunted,” Adam explained low as he gently rubbed her chin.

Emily was horrified at the thought of someone hunting someone like Adam. Or Rhea. She also noted his usual happy, smug tone was gone. Usually it’s there when he is revealing a harsh truth.

“It got to a point where some idiots thought the best way to handle it was to erase all evidence of us existing. That was the part me and Rhea were against. We still are.”

Everything clicked into place now. She weirdly felt a resentment towards them, it was because of them that they even had that initial mess earlier. Screw those guys. If it wasn’t for them, then she would’ve not acted like an asshole. The feeling was short lived. Nothing she can do about it now.

More silence passed between the two. Adam moved his finger to gently trace her cheek. He was very glad Emily was ok. He looked down at her lovingly and smiled warmly.

“I’m really sorry, Emily, this has to be one overwhelming day for you.”

“It is,” Emily admitted, “But I’m just happy we cleared up the misunderstanding. Off-tangent, can I say you look very cute as a merman?”

Adam chuckled, his face turning a good shade of red, “You look cute too, Em. Did Rhea tell you about the protection link?”

“She did yeah. Longer lifespan, and able to breath underwater.”

“You’ll be under my protection too. In any other circumstance we would talk about it more. I mean, it’s not like you’re gonna live for an eternity….” Adam’s voice trailed off.

“She mentioned that, too. I don’t know if three years is too soon to say objectively, but I’m willing to live longer with you Adam. I really love you and want to spend my life with you.”

“Same. I just still feel real sorry, ‘cause you’re not getting a choice in a way.”

“But if it means me getting back up to the surface without me dying, then its worth it, right?” Emily pointed out.

She certainly lucked out in dating such a sweet gentleman.

“Yeah, but it’s the lifespan thing that making me feel like a straight up asshole. Plus, it feels like its going too fast.”

“Hmm, no doubt on that part. This day has been a whirlwind of…well, shit,” Emily said for lack of a PG-rated word.

Adam waved his hand that caused the air bubble to grow in size. Now the air bubble turned into a mini dome. The top of the dome stretched nearly halfway up to the rocky ceiling. The other end where air met water was where his knees would be if mermaids had legs. He gently placed Emily down on his lap

It was a good sign nothing else was wrong that Emily sat up with ease. She turned around, curious to see the ocean outside the cave. It was still dim and hard to seen but she could make out schools of fish swimming. It was a good thing there didn’t seem to be any creepy-looking sea creatures in the cave.

One thing that the cave didn’t help was that it made everything look murky and dark. Now, that was creepy, in a sense, but she felt at ease knowing she was with Adam and Rhea. The visibility suddenly increased a helpful amount, thanks to Adam making the barrier glow a soft blue.

Emily stared in awe. There was a weird sense of peace in this moment. Just her and Adam, along and away from everyone else. She would rather be at home, but as long as he was there, she found she didn’t really care too much.

“Hey, about what you said earlier,” Emily started as she turned around to look up at him, “We can wait if it makes you feel more comfortable. I’m totally down with that. Is there another way I can get to the surface without drowning? Didn’t you mentioned just carrying me in an air bubble?”

”Yeah but….we have to get out of here as fast as we can. We can’t risk getting caught.”

“...teleporting?”

Adam shook his head, “Too far from our house.”

At this moment Rhea came back, Adam immediately snapped his fingers. A rock facade suddenly covered the opening behind her. Except for a tiny horizontal crack at the top. Just enough to let the water come in. There was sharpen branch from a coral reef in her hand.

“The sharpest one I can find.”

Adam took the stick, “Did you see anyone else out there?”

“I did see two guys in the distance, but I don’t think they were looking for anything. They were just talking.”

“Still can’t risk it. They can sense the presence of a human nearby if they concentrate hard enough.”

With that, Adam went to work on Emily. He materialized a bowl before he grabbed one of the scales in his tail. Rhea got the memo that he was still mad at her. He still had to be, because of her, he had to go forward with what he was doing.   
  
He didn’t notice Rhea settling down nearby up against the adjacent wall. He was too focused on the task at hand. He flipped Emily over and - magically - made a small cut down from the top of her swimsuit.

“This is gonna hurt Emily,” Adam informed her apologetically.

“I can handle it. I was thinking of getting a cool ass tattoo someday, so it’s good practice anyways,” Emily laughed lightly.

“You’d look great with one. This will be invisible outside of me.”

“Oh, because you’re the one putting it in?”

“Yep,” Adam replied as he lightly brushed her hair out of the way.

Adam cut open a small part of his finger to let some of his blood drop into the bowl. He added the scale in and not too long after, he started the procedure. About five minutes later, he finished with the symbol. Luckily, it didn’t have to be too intricate in design. He was anxious for all of them to be back up on land.

He activated the symbol and Emily felt a sensation of warm energy on her back. Said symbol on her back was reacting to Adam’s magic. It glowed a light blue. And she also felt a weird haze going on with her head in her head, like she was about to fall asleep. She also noticed a weird, secondary presence, mentally. As if someone else was swimming around her conscious. After it was all said and done, Adam gently massaged her back.

“You did great, my darling,” Adam sweetly said.

After a quick test to make sure it worked - it did - Adam slowly eased the water around them. Adam picked up Emily into his arms before he swam over to Rhea.

Rhea had her arms around the midpoint of her tail. She had her head down in her arms. He could hear her, just barely, but she was upset. Distraught over what happened. Adam sat next her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Rhea didn’t budge from her current position. A couple seconds passed.

“Rhea, listen, I know you didn’t do it on purpose,” Adam began gently but firm, “But you have to realize that with any magic spell, you have to know exactly what you’re doing. And I mean exact. Especially if you’re going to use it on a human. Double check, triple, quadruple check, if you have to.”

Rhea took this moment to lift her head up. She looked up Adam as she wiped away her tears. She hated that a mistake that big was made. Emily pushed herself out of Adam’s hold and swam closer to Rhea.

“Rhea I just wanted you to know I don’t hold it against you. I mean aside from the enormity of the mistake….it sounded like you just blanked out. I do that a lot, too. I don’t have a better comparison but recent example, I have forgotten to bring graded assignments to school. I had to lie and say I wasn’t finished grading them.”

“Thanks. This is a little different, but I get what you’re saying,” Rhea replied casually with a friendly smile.

It helped to know the first part was confirmed. Rhea felt like she was being sincere and that fitted with what she knew about her friend. Emily was more forgiving than holding some stupid petty grudge for life. Especially if it was a honest mistake. Rhea was very relieved that overall, Emily got out ok, but she still felt horrible about it.

Adam maneuvered so he was floating behind Emily, “You know you can always ask me for help. I want to say you can ask mom and dad, too, but I’m not feeling too convinced…”

Rhea laughed, “Yeah, I don’t think they know too much about spells for humans. Part of me hates to say it, but you’ll be the best one to ask,” Rhea finished with a light sibling-flavored ribbing.

“I’m confused, though,” Emily spoke up after a second or two of silence passed, “Adam, why couldn’t Rhea just use any old random seaweed? What’s special about a specific one?”

Emily had turned around to face Adam. The protection spell apparently enhanced her vision underwater, as she just became aware of. She can see enough to make out Adam’s form in the dark water.

He shrugged, “It is what it is, Emily. It’s what the people in the past figured out what worked the best,” Adam answered.

He took Emily up with him as he swam up to the middle of the enclosed cave. Rhea pushed herself off the ground and followed after. Adam snapped his fingers and a small hole appeared in the rock entrance. It was big enough for them to look out. Adam wanted to check if the coast was clear before they headed out.

“Is there anyone out there?” Rhea asked.

“Thankfully, no. We’ll want to get out of here as fast as possible,” Adam informed as he peered out before he faced his sister.

“Rhea, you know how to go faster with magic, right?”

“Yeah, I think so? It’s just been a long time since I’ve done it.”

“Well, that’s fine, you can just hold on to me,” Adam said as he dematerialized the rock wall.  
_______________________

They both crashed on the couch as soon as they had gotten back. Emily was lying on top of Adam. When it was all said and done, it was close to noon. She was planning on grading some essays, but that could wait. Right now, she wanted to do nothing but just be here with Adam. After the morning she had, no one can blame her for wanting to call it good on the day’s activities. She was worn out, and so was Adam.

“I don’t even have the energy to change out of my swimsuit…” She said, half muffled by her face buried in Adam’s clothes.

“I can help with that,” Adam snapped and suddenly she had comfortable clothes on.

A few minutes of nothing but blissful silence passed. She was just so elated everything was fine with him, relationship-wise. Everything was right in their world.

“I was gonna say something before the spell wore off back there.”

“Oh? What?”

“That I love you very much and I never want to hurt you in any way. You’re my world, Adam.”

Adam smiled. “Same here. I do have one little thing to say…”

Emily was a little confused as she looked at him. A part of her shot up with anxiety, unsure of what it was.

“Maybe we should give the challenge game a rest for a while,” He suggested, “It did lead us to have that unneeded misunderstanding.”

“That’s probably a good idea, yeah. But if anything, we don’t have to have the lifespan differences talk.”

Adam chuckled and nodded, “That is true.”


End file.
